


Jaguar Phoenix (unedited)

by EAM2412



Series: Jaguar Phoenix [2]
Category: Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts (Cartoon)
Genre: Angst, Canon Non-Binary Character, Fluff, Fluff and Angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-14
Updated: 2020-11-13
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:14:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 4,026
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27551365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EAM2412/pseuds/EAM2412
Summary: Kipo begins transforming back in the burrow.Her friends are there to help.Her father, not so much...
Relationships: Asher Berdacs/Kipo Oak
Series: Jaguar Phoenix [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013886
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> This will be rewritten at some point, but I want people to be able to read the messy and embarrassing original while I work.

Dahlia had a love for horror movies, and Asher had a love for pranks. Putting the two together on a movie night was a bad idea. Playing pranks on their gay friend Troy and their oddly pink friend Kipo, they both got yelled at a lot. Dahlia and Asher had set up for a nice night filled with scary movies, their parents working the late shift, they had the apartment to themselves. They of course invited their friends over to join them, it was Friday and had no bedtime in place. Kipo was the first to show up at the apartment and helped Asher make some snacks, while Dahlia picked out some movies. Troy was a bit later but showed up before they started the movie marathon. Curled up together on the couch, they started the movie. 

Halfway through the movie, Kipo was clinging to Asher like a lifeline, while Dahlia was on the edge of her seat watching the screen intently. Asher unraveled Kipo’s limbs(she was much stronger than she looked) from their body and walked off towards the bathroom. Coming back into the darkroom they had a sinister idea, stalking up behind the couch quietly, they slid to the ground. Reaching their arms up and over the back of the couch, they grabbed Kipo’s shoulders while letting out a yell. Kipo made an inhuman shrieking sound, and this strange rustling noise emitted from her arms. 

“ASHER!!!” Kipo yelled at them.

“That was a bit cruel, even for you.” Troy said, turning to them.

Asher laughed at their friends, jumping over the couch, they plopped back down next to Kipo. Troy had rolled his eyes and turned back to the movie, whereas Kipo started hitting her friend with a pillow. Dahlia stayed silent, staring baffled at Kipo. It was dark, the others probably hadn’t even noticed yet, but Dahlia focused intently on her pink friend's arms. What looked like pink and black fur, had sprouted from Kipo’s arms. Now she had known Kipo since they were babies, and she knew Kipo was odd. Kipo was PINK, she had excellent senses, she purred, she was way wilder than other kids and her father Lio didn’t like talking about where they were before they came to the Clover burrow. But FUR? That wasn’t normal, nor was it something that should suddenly appear on a human.  
Grabbing the remote, Dahlia paused the movie, earning confused glances from the others. Having stood from her seat, she quickly shuffled over to turn the lights on. Flicking them on, her friends shielded their eyes as they adjusted to the sudden light. She continued to stare at Kipo, baffled. With the light on, and Kipo hiding her eyes with her arms, Dahlia could see the fur clearly now. There was no doubt about it, her friend had grown fur. 

“What the hell Dahlia? Give us a warning would ya!” Asher pouted at their sister, but their expression quickly turned to worry as they saw their sister. She was pale, scared, and confused, Asher had never seen their sister like this. She loved horror movies, so it took a lot to make her scared. 

Kipo was worried when the twins went into a silent staring contest, looking up, she glanced at each of them. Not seeing anything physically wrong with them, she looked down at the only boy, to see if something was wrong with him. Catching something bright pink in her vision, she looked at her arm. She touched the newly grown fur with her opposite hand, noticing that both arms were covered in fur, and confirmed that not only was it real, but she could feel it. Realizing the fur was coming from her, she started to panic, and her fur stood on end like a scared cat. 

“Wh-WHAT IS THIS?!!” She yelled while jumping up and falling off the armrest of the couch. Her outburst brought not only Dahlia’s attention back to the fur, but her other two friends watched her worriedly. Troy(who was already on the floor) was the next to see the fur, he was on his feet in seconds, concern and confusion swirling around his face. Kipo scurried away from the couch until she hit the wall, staring at her furry arms in shock and fear. This gave Asher full view of the fur, and they ran over to their panicking friend. Dahlia had a similar idea, she was still beside the light switch, only a little above Kipo’s head, and had crouched down to her friends level. The twins flanked Kipo on both sides, Dahlia’s hand hovered over Kipo’s furry arm, unsure if her friend wanted to be touched. Asher put a hand on their terrified friend's shoulder, while their other hand moved to hold Kipo’s in their own. Letting the intertwined hands drop in between them, they all watched as Kipo twisted her arm around to get a better view. 

“Is this fur?! Like animal fur?! Why do I have fur? I am human, humans don’t have fur! Why does it have spots? What?” Kipo was near entering a panic attack, her breathing quickened and her mind raced. 

“Hey, it’s okay. We will figure this out. But you need to calm down.” Troy said as he cautiously approached the panicked girl. 

“Calm down? How am I supposed to calm down when I grew FUR!!!” She was quickly hushed by her friends. The walls are thin, and this doesn’t seem like something others should know about.  
“I think we should talk to your dad. He is a scientist, maybe he will know what's going on?” Dahlia suggested. Kipo glanced at her friends who surround her, they weren’t rejecting her, they were as scared and confused as she was. She felt sick, but she needed answers. Nodding she curled her fluffed up arm to her chest.

“Troy, go grab her a jacket to cover her arms.” Ushering him off, Dahlia turned back to Kipo “I will get your bags. Ash tried to calm her down.” Standing up, she and Troy collected the items and turned off the TV. Asher wrapped her arms around Kipo in a tight hug, they didn’t understand, but they would do anything for her.


	2. Chapter Two

When Troy came back he handed the sweater to Asher, seeing as Kipo was a bit too distraught. Asher put Kipo’s arms in one after the other, noting how soft Kipo’s fur was. They dragged Kipo to her feet and slung their arm around her shoulder while Troy opened the door for them. Dahlia was right behind them, Kipo’s possessions in hand, and followed closely behind. Troy led and Asher, kept Kipo calm and hidden, while Dahlia watched from the back of their group. 

The Oaks did not live in the same apartment building as the twins, but it wasn’t a far walk. It was night, and although they had no sun, the streets were empty due to most people being asleep. They stayed silent throughout the walk, ducking away from main areas if they saw others out. Kipo appeared to be in a daze, she let her friends drag her back home without arguing. 

They arrived at the apartment complex, Asher and Dahlia had Kipo tucked into a darkened corner so as not to be seen, while Troy went and knocked.   
When Lio opened the door he was surprised to see Troy but was scared with how shaken the young man looked. 

“Troy? What are you doing up? And why are you here? Did something happen to Kipo?! Is she okay, where is she?!!” 

“Uh, may we come in?” Troy stiffly gestured to where the twins were hiding Kipo. Kipo peeked out from in between them, meeting her fathers gaze she began to cry. She pushed her friends out of the way and ran for the comfort of her father. 

“Sweetie, what’s wrong?” 

“My arm.” She whispered. Lio’s expression changed immediately, ushering all four kids into the apartment. He quickly checked to see if anyone had been watching, before shutting the door, locking it in an instant. Turning back to the four shaken kids, he tried to stay calm. 

“May I see your arm?” Kipo nodded and pulled the sweater off. Lio gasped lightly at the fur, not because he was shocked to see fur growing from his daughter, he was surprised that it was just fur. She had never grown fur without a full paw, although he knew it was possible due to Song’s partial transformations. 

“What happened to cause this? Did anyone else see?” Others finding out about Kipo could be dangerous, for everyone. 

Kipo shook her head “Nobody else saw, just us.” Taking a deep breath before answering his other question “We were watching a scary movie and Asher scared me, I just got a bit scared is all.” Lio narrowed his eyes while watching the other three occupants. They may be Kipo’s friends, but he didn’t trust them with this.

“You should probably go, I need to have a father-daughter chat with Kipo.” Troy and Dahlia looked suspicious, while Asher looked downright offended. 

“What? No. We are staying here with Kipo.” Asher placed themself in between Kipo and her father, something about Lio’s change in demeanor gave off a dangerous aura. They wouldn’t leave Kipo alone right now and especially not with him. 

“Look, this is important. It’s not something kids like you should know about, it’s a family matter.” He wanted to talk with her alone, having her friends around would be a hassle. 

“I want them to stay. They are my friends, and we all deserve answers.” Kipo’s voice was quiet but still firm, she would stand her ground. 

Lio sighed, he knew she had won. “Fine. You should all sit down.” Following his orders, Kipo and the twins sat on the couch, while Troy sat on the arm of the couch.


	3. Chapter Three

“You all are aware I am a scientist, and that this was not where Kipo and I were born. My wife and I lived in a burrow filled with other scientists. The sole purpose of the burrow was to find how to reverse the mutation, turning mutes back into normal animals. Song and I were the ones who found how to do such, but we had decided that we couldn’t take away the minds of mutes, it wasn’t fair to them. So we started a different project in secret.” He looked Kipo in the eyes “Project Kipo.” 

Shock showed on all their faces, and then anger on three. 

“You experimented on your own daughter?!!” Troy was enraged, this man used his child as a test subject. 

“How could you experiment on your child?!!” Asher had never been angrier. Dahlia sat back in horror, she brought Kipo into a tight hug and glared daggers at the mad scientist. Kipo was quiet, she didn’t know the whole story, and her friends were protecting her. 

Lio shushed them all, pointing at the walls. Luckily none of them were too loud. “Please, let me finish.” 

Troy stood protectively in front of Asher and the girls, as Lio continued his story.

“If we couldn’t morally turn mutes back into animals, then we needed to find another way for humans to safely live on the surface. We dabbled with many ideas, but none of them would work. Then one day we wondered if changing the humans instead of the mutes was the answer. The ideal changed human would be able to defend themself, as well as others, while also being able to blend in with mutes. A hybrid, a human/mute hybrid. But a hybrid merged with a normal mutated animal wouldn't be able to defend themself against large attacks, nor would they be able to protect many people at once. So we looked elsewhere.”

All of them were listening intently, not happily, but intently. 

“We had a variety of mutated animal samples in the labs, but we needed to see a bit of the surface. We spent a night on the surface and found what type of mute was best suited for surviving and protecting. With that knowledge, we returned to the burrow and got to work. We took four samples from the lab, we knew only one could potentially survive, which is why we took four. Using both of our DNA to create a child that would biblically be ours, we infused that with the edited samples to create four possible hybrids. Implanting them into Song's womb, she would carry the surviving hybrid. It was a few weeks before we found that at least one of the embryos took, we later found two took.” 

“I have a twin?” 

Asher gave her a funny look. “That’s what you're surprised about? Not the fact that your parents turned you into a hybrid?” Kipo just shrugged, she didn’t understand yet.

“As I was saying… you had a twin. Although your twin was a surviving a hybrid, things in pregnancy often go wrong. Your twin died months before you were born, we don’t know why they died, but they did.” 

Kipo was disappointed and sad, she wanted to have a twin like Dahlia and Asher. Her friends remained angry, jumping to the conclusion that the experiment is what killed her sibling. 

“Before your twin died, Song started displaying odd symptoms. Hybrid symptoms. Due to your sibling's cells passing through her, she also became a hybrid.” 

“How did you know it was her sibling's cells and not Kipo’s?” Troy asked cautiously 

“Originally we thought we had only one child, but after the twin died, Kipo was still there. Originally we thought that Kipo’s hybrid cells were the ones that changed Song, but after your birth, we found that you were not the same species as her. Naturally, we concluded that your twin would have been the same species as your mother.” 

“You still haven’t told us the species of Kipo and the other embryos you experimented on.” Dahlia noticed that he kept avoiding saying the species.   
Lio cringed, he didn’t want to say they had used Mega Predator DNA. They might get scared of Kipo, and hurt her. Kipo might become more unstable and transform.   
Kipo looked between her dad and friends, she stood up and held her head high. She needed answers, even if the answer scared her. “Tell me.”

“No. You're not ready.” If she transformed, he would lose her like he lost Song.

“Tell me.” Kipo stomped closer, she was angry and confused. Without her knowing, she released a deep and wild feline growl. Her pupils turned to slits, although didn’t fully change. She was angry, scared, confused, conflicted, and felt betrayed. 

None of the others were expecting Kipo to growl, they were taken aback. Lio was the only one who could see her face, her pupils slit and teeth lightly barred. Unknowingly, Kipo was letting her wild nature show. Her three friends stayed where they stood, afraid to get in between the two. Their friend wasn’t acting right, and after all, they had heard, they didn’t blame her. 

“Kipo, you need to calm down, now.” Lio put his hands up to appear less threatening, though Kipo still barred her teeth. Asher was the first to intervene, they put a hand on Kipo’s shoulder to try and calm her. Kipo whipped her head around to face a shocked Asher, realizing she was baring her teeth at her friend, she backed down and apologized. 

Asher held the girl close, their friend was hurting, yet they couldn’t help.


	4. Chapter Four

Troy knew that whatever species she was, was clearly a dangerous one. He needed to know, that way they can help. “Species now.” He had lost all patience with the man, this was a demand. 

“Well we used four different species, so we wouldn’t know which was the surviving species till birth.” 

“Stop stalling! I demand you tell us, we can’t help her if we don’t know!” 

Lio sighed, he was ganged upon. These kids were stubborn and protective of each other. Kipo wasn’t in a good mental state, he doubted telling her, her species would help. But she and her friends were riled up, if he didn’t tell them then Kipo would just get more emotionally unstable. Either way, Kipo might become a wild mega. 

“We used the DNA of four apex predators, mega apex predators. Mega Komodo Dragon, Mega Falcon, Mega Monkey, and Mega Jaguar.” This time they all turned to look at a very shocked Kipo. They were expecting some sort of predator, but definitely not a mega. 

“I’m a mega?” Kipo’s voice was barely above a whisper. She shook her head and stood up. “But wait, aren’t megas just massive and dumb? Like they can’t think or speak?”   
Lio looked at her sadly, his expression scared Kipo. “That’s correct.”   
Kipo reared her head back like she had been slapped in the face, it felt like her world was beginning to crumble. Yet her father continued talking. 

“We imagined what a Mega Mute could do with a human mind. They would have size and power, plus the intelligence of a human mind! The ideal way to make it safe for humans to live on the surface is to have a powerful protector!” Lio turned somber “Sadly we didn’t know what would happen to hybrids. Your mother was the first hybrid, naturally, there were changes in her. She developed super strength, her senses enhanced, she started growing fur, her eyes would turn red, and her emotions were more easily triggered. Though the emotion thing could have been from her being pregnant…” He trailed off before shaking his head. 

“That’s not important. We had originally intended for hybrids to transform back and forth from human to mega, able to switch at will. It wasn’t like that though. After you were born some of the other scientists came to our home, they had figured out that we knew how to reverse the mutation, and they were violent. Song answered the door and faced them. I don’t know what exactly happened, but I heard yelling and then her screaming. It went quiet for a few seconds before I heard this loud bang, the entire burrow shook from it. The next thing I know, everything is coming down, people were screaming and fleeing, and this deafening roar echoed throughout the burrow. I ran with you, I hoped Song would meet us outside, but then I realized what had happened. Song fell, the bang I had heard was her body hitting the floor. She must have transformed while falling, she destroyed our burrow. We didn’t know that if hybrids fully transform their human minds disappear, they become lost in wild instincts. She not only destroyed the burrow, but killed many of the inhabitants, and chased some of the ones who escaped. She didn’t recognize me when she left what little remained of the burrow, I never saw her again.” 

Lio looked up at his horrified daughter “If you ever fully transform, the same will happen to you. I wanted to keep you safe so you never thought about it, you never needed to transform. If I kept you down here, you would never be at risk of fully transforming and losing yourself. I can’t lose you like I lost your mother.”   
How were any of them supposed to respond? 

Kipo felt her world crash down around her, she was scared, and then she was angry. Fur sprouted on her other arm, razor-sharp claws replaced her nails. Growling she flexed her claws, hunching up she prepared to launch at him. Her eyes fully changed, and newly grown fangs were barred at her father.   
Troy and Dahlia both backed away from the dangerous predator, she was getting aggressive and more dangerous by the second. Lio pleaded with her to calm down. “Kipo, you need to calm down or you will fully transform!”

Asher stood behind Kipo, everything seemed to be in slow motion. Their friend and their sister were backing away from the hybrid girl, they grew up with her, they couldn’t lose her. Asher made up their mind, they would rather die than watch their friend disappear. They walked right up behind the growling hybrid and grabbed her around the waist.   
Kipo snarled and started kicking her legs around. She swung her arm back, Asher prepared for a slash, but her claws sheathed at the last second. Kipo smacked Asher, although her claws were gone she still had super strength. Asher would have a bruise later, but she got an idea. 

She yelped as if it had hurt much much more, backing away and holding their face. 

“Asher!” Dahlia yelled out, but it wasn’t her they were watching. Kipo had frozen as soon as they had yelped, she turned to them shocked, then horror crossed her face. 

“I-I didn’t mean to! Are you okay? Asher?!” Kipo’s eyes and teeth had returned to normal, claws nowhere to be found. She panicked and crouched down to them, she hesitated before touching their hand. “How bad is it? Let me see!” Asher pulled their hand away and smiled. A bruise was already forming, but no blood. 

“I thought that would bring you back.” Chuckling they stood up, Kipo followed their lead. “It might bruise, but you didn’t hurt me bad. Besides, I figured you would come back to your senses if you thought I got hurt. And I was right.” They pulled Kipo into a tight hug, they brought her back to her senses and that is all that matters. 

“I’m sorry! I’m so sorry!” Kipo was a sobbing mess and clung onto Asher as if her life depended on it. 

The other three occupants in the room stood in glee and awe. Dahlia and Troy both carefully joined the hug and reassured Kipo that it was okay. Dahlia was proud of her twin, although a little miffed they put themself in harm's way. With Kipo crying in her friend's arms, the three looked at each other and silently agreed to stick by Kipo’s side no matter what.


	5. Chapter Five

Lio had let them stay the night, although really they refused to leave, and left them alone. The four once again cuddled together on Kipo’s bed, sitting together covered in blankets, with Kipo in the center. Her fur was still out, and Dahlia was petting her arms to calm her down(it was working). Troy was humming a gentle song, rubbing his fingers through her hair. Asher's head was on Kipo’s and they were holding her hand. 

“Do you think I will disappear like my mom?” Kipo asked solemnly. Her friends froze, they were scared of losing her, and it was a terrifying question. 

“Maybe because your mom was human and turned into a hybrid she was unstable? Maybe because you have always been a hybrid, you will be different?” Dahlia wanted to cheer her friend up, and gave the hybrid a shaky smile. The truth is that none of them would know unless Kipo transformed, and that wasn’t a risk they were willing to take.

“Do you really believe that?” Dahlia’s smile fell when Kipo turned to her with tears in her eyes. 

Asher sighed. “Maybe it won’t be that easy, it will probably really hard. But your not alone, you have us! We will stick by you through everything, and we will bring you back if you do transform. I promise.” And if they couldn’t bring her back, they might as well die trying.

“Besides, maybe your dad didn’t try hard enough to bring your mom back? It could just take a lot of work and time.” Troy was hoping that Kipo wouldn’t turn into a wild mega, but he would still try to get her back. 

“Thank you.” Kipo whispered in a small cry.

An hour later Kipo sniffles lessened, and her body went limp. She had fallen asleep, and her friends listened to her purr. Her fur receded, making her look like a normal pink human. Once again the four curled up together on her bed, listing to the hybrid purr. She had her friends, and with them, she could go through anything.


End file.
